A Boston-area court dismisses larceny charges against a former rabbi who dipped into synagogue funds to pay off a blackmailer.
The Norfolk County Superior Court agrees to a continuance of an embezzlement charge against 66-year-old Rabbi Barry Starr, which would lead to the charge being dropped and no jail time if he is not charged with any other crimes in the meantime. He was facing up to 15 years in prison.
Rabbi Barry Starr (YouTube screenshot)
Starr resigned in 2014 from Temple Israel in Sharon, Massachusetts, after 28 years, when the missing money came to light.
Blackmailer Nicholas Zemeitus had threatened to expose what he said was the rabbi’s two-year affair with a 16-year-old male. Zemeitus, who pleaded guilty to extortion and larceny for blackmailing Starr, was sentenced in December to up to five years in prison and three years of probation.
Prosecutors said they never found any evidence to support Zemeitus’s allegations, and do not believe that Starr met with minors.
— JTA
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